In an article published by Sports Business Insider, Account Director at Edelman Australia Paul Binney suggests campaigns are received well by consumers when there is “a relationship based on a mutual benefit and a two way conversation based on each other’s needs.” This important campaign tool is known as ‘value exchange’.

“Some people don’t want to engage with a brand, whether it’s directly or through a sponsorship, but many people do and it’s crucial that they aren’t just being ‘broadcast’ to, but are able to feel part of the brand experience,” Binney said.

Binney quotes the FIFA World Cup campaign executed by Adidas as an important example of value exchange, emphasising that real-time engagement was a major factor in its success.

Throughout the campaign, Adidas pre-prepared campaign material to be released timely throughout the FIFA World Cup Final, such as after goals and at the conclusion of the match. These campaign materials were received well and had high engagement with consumers.

Here at Interplay, we also believe that value exchange is necessary in sport campaigns and real-time engagement is an important tool in creating this integrated experience for consumers.

Much of our media is consumed by while watching sport, and one of the best examples we see of this is on the AFL Fantasy website Fan Footy.

Many users of Fan Footy visit the website when watching Live AFL games. This is to follow real-time live-blogging and user discussion around the game, and to follow live fantasy scores that are published on the site.

We believe that this engaged audience is extremely powerful for advertisers. An example of how this can be used is through the placement of Domino’s pizza advertisements around this type of sport content.

The introduction of these guidelines has been supported by theAssociation of Online Publishers (AOP) and ISBA Wire in light of the increased presence of native advertising.

Under the new guidelines outlined on Exchange Wire, businesses must include visual and written cues to demonstrate when editorials are sponsored or paid promotions.

“The guidelines help companies involved in developing and publishing such native ad formats to provide the necessary levels of transparency to consumers and uphold the integrity of online advertising,” IAB public policy manager Alex Stepney said.

Research from the IAB found that people are more likely to engage with native advertising if it is relevant and consumers are less likely to trust content if they are unsure of the source or where it derived from.

Through our own research at Interplay Media and our own use of native advertising throughout our blogger network, we support this idea.

Many Mummy Blogs have success with using native advertising to cover a range of topics that primarily interest women. The same website may have advertising ranging from food products, to luxury holiday destinations, to children’s services and retail.

Although we have found consumers of sporting websites and blogs are more likely to respond to native advertising only if it is relevant and content is specifically designed to suit consumers with an interest in sports.

]]>http://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/iab-uk-to-monitor-native-ads/feed/0The power of the infographichttp://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/the-power-of-the-infographic-is-growing-in-the-digital-landscape-find-out-how-racing-and-sports-used-inforgraphics-to-promote-the-cheltenham-festival/
http://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/the-power-of-the-infographic-is-growing-in-the-digital-landscape-find-out-how-racing-and-sports-used-inforgraphics-to-promote-the-cheltenham-festival/#commentsTue, 10 Feb 2015 05:02:58 +0000http://interplaymedia.com.au/?p=1120
Australia’s top racing site in the country, Racing and Sports has collaborated with online bookmaker Paddy Power to promote the upcoming Cheltenham Festival.

Interplay Media has developed the Paddy Power Guide, a comprehensive infographic and guide to the Jump racing festival which will take place in March.

The infographic is an interesting way to showcase some of the impressive statistics, trends and information around the Cheltenham Festival, with an appealing entertainment value.

Racing and Sports success comes from its comprehensive database of racing information from meetings in ten countries around the world. The free website provides news and analysis of every individual run, 24/7.

In 2014 it was very apparent that the use of mobile devices had a substantial impact on social media networks and the way that businesses approach marketing through these networks.

Mona Parmar, Vice President of Glow Digital Media spoke to Exchange Wire and identified video as one of the top three advertising trends businesses should be prepared for from Facebook in 2015.

With the increased presence and influence of video in the digital sphere, Parmar expects businesses will delve more seriously into Facebook video advertising, resulting in substantial growth in the area.

“From November to December in 2014 we saw video impressions served on Facebook through our Glow Machine platform increase 917% month-over-month (Glow Social Advertising Index – Q4 2014),” Parmar said.

At Interplay, we will be looking to optimise on this trend by introducing more video-focused campaigns through our publishers and social media channels.

We are currently utilising this tool with SEN, inserting a pre-roll video advertisement before listeners can tune in via the online ‘Listen Live’ function on the website.

Interplay Media also anticipate a substantial increase in video advertising in 2015, with businesses looking to reallocate TV advertising dollars through their more effective digital channels.

]]>http://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/interplay-media-network-infographic/feed/0Interplay Media excited by the release of the 2015 AFL fixturehttp://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/interplay-media-excited-by-the-release-of-the-2015-afl-fixture/
http://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/interplay-media-excited-by-the-release-of-the-2015-afl-fixture/#commentsThu, 30 Oct 2014 05:08:56 +0000http://interplaymedia.com.au/?p=1097
The 2015 AFL fixture was released today, and even though the 2014 season only wrapped up four weeks ago, we’re already looking forward to a cracking season of footy next year.

We’ve taken a good look through the fixture, and like what we’re seeing across the board for AFL fans and for our publisher network.

All the big blockbusters will be back next year, with Richmond and Carlton kicking off the season in their traditional Thursday night fixture, while Hawthorn and Geelong will go head to head on Easter Monday.

Our favourite part of the fixture for next year is the scrapping on the 4.40pm Sunday twilight fixture, which often had us ruined for the working week, as well as losing the NFL copycat Monday night games which made getting out of bed on a Tuesday morning even harder.

Our Kiwi Managing Director James Spinks is also looking forward to St Kilda returning to Wellington’s Westpac Stadium to take on the Blues on ANZAC Day, while we can expect most footy fans are very excited for the return of the Saturday afternoon blockbuster.

For the Interplay network, all of our AFL publishers are getting right into the new fixture and are already working on new innovative ways to bring digital into the AFL experience, particularly across the areas on fantasy football.

Three of our fantasy publishers Les Wales from TooSerious.net, Paul Montgomery at fanfooty.com.au and Adam ‘Warnie’ Child from Dreamteamtalk.com are all working closely with Interplay to create a great experience for punters in 2015.

“This is a positive fixture for most teams, with a return to Saturday arvo footy proving a big hit with the fans,” says Too Serious’ Wales. “Stepping away from Sunday twilight games will make us fantasy fans happy with sensible lockout times for all.”

Fan Footy’s ‘Monty’ also highlighted the importance of the scrapping of Monday night and Sunday twilight games for fantasy players.

“It’s great that the AFL has taken note of what the fans have been saying in regards to the 2014 fixture,” said ‘Monty’. “Sunday twilight made things much tougher for thousands of fantasy players and having that gone means we can play around with some of our ideas and content next year.”

The fixture release also means fantasy coaches can start planning for next year according to DT Talk’s ‘Warnie’.

“The fixture is exciting for us so we can start thinking about which teams to choose players from depending on their starts to the season and where the bye falls. We’re already starting to analyse the fixture on the blog which has been really exciting for keen fantasy coaches.”

Stay tuned to the Interplay network over the coming months as more is revealed about what we have planned for the 2015 AFL season.

]]>http://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/interplay-media-excited-by-the-release-of-the-2015-afl-fixture/feed/0Cox Plate continues to garner interest as Interplay gets stuck into the Spring Racing Seasonhttp://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/cox-plate-continues-to-garner-interest-as-interplay-gets-stuck-into-the-spring-racing-season/
http://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/cox-plate-continues-to-garner-interest-as-interplay-gets-stuck-into-the-spring-racing-season/#commentsFri, 24 Oct 2014 00:17:43 +0000http://interplaymedia.com.au/?p=1085
The Cox Plate returns to Moonee Valley tomorrow on what is set to be a cracking Melbourne day, with interest around the race building steadily for the past few weeks.

Interplay is very excited to be officially involved with the Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC) this Spring Racing season, working with the MVRC on generating ticket sales through our extensive eDM database.

The interest in the 2040m race has been growing strongly over the past few months, as the Spring Racing Carnival in general grows as an advertising opportunity for a number of brands.

At Interplay, we’ve been utilising our network to help racing related brands build buzz about the Carnival, with the Cox Plate a day which is experiencing a continued rise in popularity.

Utilising the network to build interest, a large amount of advertising for sports betting as well as the racing clubs themselves has seen big results for our advertisers.

Popular betting agency Ladbrokes has been working with a number of publishers in the Interplay network with a striking campaign garnering attention for Cox Plate betting, namely on our market leading horse racing site racingandsports.com.au, which regularly attracts over 5.5 million views per month.

We’re really looking forward to a great day of racing at Moonee Valley tomorrow afternoon. Our tip for the plate? We’re riding with Criterion at $7.40 for the win.

]]>http://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/cox-plate-continues-to-garner-interest-as-interplay-gets-stuck-into-the-spring-racing-season/feed/0Top mobile trends for 2015 from Advertising Weekhttp://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/top-mobile-trends-for-2015-from-advertising-week/
http://interplaymedia.com.au/index.php/top-mobile-trends-for-2015-from-advertising-week/#commentsThu, 16 Oct 2014 05:25:44 +0000http://interplaymedia.com.au/?p=1081
At New York’s Advertising Week earlier this month, a key theme arose amongst advertisers, and that’s the global challenge presented by mobile marketing, and to continue to figure out the way to best serve ads on Smart Phones.

Ad Week spoke to eight of the World’s top digital marketing executives in a post following the NY based event, to discuss what the future of mobile advertising holds on 2015. While mobile shopping was a key topic of discussion, finding new ways to create targeted and useful ads without cookies on mobile is one of the main challenges which digital marketers will face over the next twelve months.

Colson Hillier, Vice President of Precision Market Inside told Ad Week: “The next six to 12 months will yield much better standards around identity. The fact that a cookie doesn’t exist in mobile can be solved; it’s by doing things like ID chaining or leveraging a precision ID.”

At Interplay, we’re working on solving the problem of targeting advertising for our brands and for our network’s readers by exploring geo-fencing and ad beacons to create more targeted campaigns.

As a network of digital sports publishers, our main focus in the next twelve months will look to use geo-advertising for in-stadium mobile advertising to help target our network when they’re at their most passionate.

Another topic of discussion is the complexities of incorporating video into mobile based campaigns, with Vice President of Facebook’s global marketing solutions Carolyn Everson telling Ad Week: “For the very first time, brands are starting to see that you can tell beautiful stories on the mobile device. The brands that we’re talking to are interested in pushing(video), so that it’s where they’re going.”

Interplay has also continuously been working with both our publishers and advertisers to produce high quality interactive ads and videos as users look to be more engaged and impressed. We’re seeing this more and more with Stick Sports as active engagement becomes more important.

And, what we’re predicting for the next twelve months of mobile advertising? We’re looking forward to richer content with more targeted publics, creating more value for our advertisers and a greater ad experience for users.

As we finally begin to see glimpses of the summer sun here at Interplay Tower in Melbourne, and with the NRL and AFL seasons well and truly wrapped up, we’re beginning to turn our attention to our favourite summer sport.

Cricket Australia have launched their first advertising campaign of the summer, with a series of adaptations of 10CC’s Dreadlock Holiday from IIly, Grant Smiley and 10CC’s own Graham Goulman. The current videos focus on the T20 and One Day International Series against South Africa.

The campaign which runs across TV, print, digital and outdoor has already recaptured our passion for the sport on Cricket Australia’s YouTube channel, with the tune accompanying eye catching visuals which are really getting us pumped up for the summer of cricket.

Our publishers are also starting to get in on the action, with non-traditional Cricket site Big Footy’s forums already lighting up with Cricket chat, while Cricket 365 is buzzing with news about the up-coming season.

We really can’t wait for the Cricket season to kick off – while we wait we’ll be at the races or just fine tuning our batting with StickSports.com.

No longer is watching TV a single screen activity, with users flocking to Twitter, Facebook and dedicated TV social networks such as Beamly to chat, moan, laugh and whine about their favourite TV shows.

General Manager of Beamly, Robb Beeston recently spoke to AdNews about the growth of second screen engagement when watching TV, saying that dedicated networks with aps such as Beamly give users a little extra privacy when watching.

“Not everyone wants to share with their real-world friends that they’re watching The Bachelor with because they may not have similar interests,” he said.

“However they want to be in an environment with a bunch of fans around them. It’s a way you can go and talk about your passion for that show without broadcasting to your entire social network.”

Twitter has also recently introduced its Amplify product, which allows media companies to track the level of engagement with their TV shows and events, with one of the highest times for engagement during large sporting events.

At Interplay, we see the rise in second screen TV engagement in sport not just through apps and social networks, but through the publishers in our network.

Fan Footy, which attracts over 291,000 unique visitors a month experiences huge spikes in visits during AFL games, with the site providing live up dates of AFL fantasy scores. Fantasy mad football fans can watch the game, while tracking how players from their fantasy team are going live on their laptop or mobile phone.

The trend of live engagement will only continue to grow, particularly in the sports entertainment sector, with more and more social networks and online publishers jumping on board with apps, live feeds and forums.